Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 159

Chapter 159: The Red Substance
After dinner, everyone returned to their jobs to maximize their time and efficiency while they still had access to the resources within the bunker.

Noah focused on settling and preparing the logistics of moving to the government base, while Ian took care of security and matters related to Alpha Team.

Jonah was busy in the lab, while Rayne busied herself in the kitchen. Everyone worked late into the night, only going to bed well after midnight.

The next morning, Rayne woke up and found Jonah already in the lab, continuing his research from yesterday.

“Hey. Have you discovered anything?” she asked after greeting him.

“Well, there’s one thing I know for sure—it’s a drug. I’m still trying to figure out what it does exactly,” he replied, yawning.

“Okay. I’ll bring you a coffee and some breakfast in a little bit. Thank you for your hard work,” she smiled.

After breakfast, Rayne continued working in the kitchen until Julian approached her. “Some of our scouts that were positioned in the city have reported sightings of Damien’s men. We can’t be sure they’re headed here, but we need to be ready.”

Rayne understood his underlying meaning. Today, she would need to go around and store as many things as she could into her system.

“Okay, let me finish up here and I’ll come find you in a few minutes,” she said, and turned to finish cooking.

About twenty minutes later, she walked into Julian’s room and saw him laying out various weapons and parts on the table and floor.

“Hey! So these are the most important items that I have. They are all the latest weapons that my company developed,” said Julian, motioning to all of the items laying on the table.

Rayne looked at all the high-tech-looking weapons with interest. Most of the weapons were guns, while some were cold weapons like knives and daggers.

She couldn’t tell what was different about them from a simple glance, but she believed that whatever REN Corporation developed was extraordinary.

She quickly stored everything, leaving behind only empty spaces. “Is there anything else you want me to store? Personal items? Clothes?” she asked Julian, looking around.

Julian brought over a large plastic bin. “If you store this, will it store the items inside?”

“Yes!” Rayne smiled. It was a handy feature that allowed her to get her hands on the red substance.

She placed her hand on the bin and gave the mental command to store it. Within a blink of an eye, the bin vanished from sight.

Rayne made her way around the room, storing the rest of the furniture that she had laid out for Julian, bringing back that cold, prison-like environment. She stored everything except for his bed.

After finishing, she turned to leave. “I’m going to go store everything in my room since I’m staying with you anyway.” Her cheeks flushed at her own words, but this was the reality. Last night, Julian wouldn’t let her sleep in her room, saying he wouldn’t be able to sleep if she wasn’t with him.

“Sure, I’ll go tell Noah and Ian to pack their belongings in a bin so that you can store those later,” replied Julian and left the room.

Rayne quickly ran around her old room, storing everything. Even if it was a used bar of soap, she still stored it. She wasn’t going to leave anything behind for Damien’s men to use!

After cleaning out her room, she made her way over to the kitchen, cleaning out all of the empty rooms on the way there.

In the kitchen, she began storing the pantry items, pots, pans, utensils, and anything else she could get her hands on.

Julian had already made an announcement that they were cleaning out the communal areas, so it wouldn’t seem strange if things were missing.

By the time she finished, only the very large items, such as the refrigerator, were left. She kept these out in case someone wanted to cook something from now until they left. Julian planned to leave as soon as Jonah finished his research, which Rayne prayed would be soon.

They lived very simply, only using basic items for two more days until Jonah finally made progress with the red substance.

Julian called over Rayne, Noah, and Ian into a conference room on the upper level. It was Rayne’s first time there, and she took a seat beside Julian.

Once everyone gathered, Julian turned to Jonah to present his findings on the red substance.

“So from my tests, I’ve managed to gather that this red substance is indeed a drug meant for human consumption. I won’t get into technical details, but it basically alters the body to dull pain receptors to a very high degree, as well as increase blood circulation to give the illusion of more energy and greater strength,” announced Jonah.

Everyone listened quietly, trying to digest the new information. Rayne remembered the leader of the Blood Skulls and how difficult it was for her to break out of his grip, no matter how hard she tried.

“Prolonged usage of this drug can synthetically alter the cellular structure of muscles, growing them artificially. This drug, however, has big downsides. First and foremost is that it’s completely irreversible—once you take it, there’s no way you can ever get it out of your system.

Second, the drug can cause user dependency. It acts similar to caffeine in this regard, but widens the blood vessels instead of shrinking them. If a user doesn’t take the substance regularly, they begin to feel withdrawal symptoms such as aches, headaches, nausea, and increased irritability.”

The room went silent until Julian finally looked up. “So Damien is trying to build an army of altered humans. He’s trying to build numbers right now so that he can easily take over and establish himself as the leader.

What Julian couldn’t figure out was if Damien somehow knew about the apocalypse happening ahead of time. He glanced over at Rayne. If he hadn’t met her, he wouldn’t even entertain this thought, but the reality was that anything was possible.

“We will begin our move to the government base tomorrow,” Julian finally said.